Nothing Simple
by Darksknight
Summary: Something tells me that this is not simple lust. (Ulquiorra POV- Sequel to Bloodlust, but makes sense as a separate piece.) M rated chapters are marked as such and easily skipped with summeries at the end so that those who do not wish to read any M content can keep up with the story and read it as a T.
1. Movies and Broken Legs

This takes place after Bloodlust- More cute Ulquihime! Some quick notes before I get started: this story isn't like a day-to-day progressing, there are chapters in chronological order that just center on certain points in time. Additionally, I'm not putting in a chapter that sets up the circumstances. so if you want to know how everything came to be here's the quick explanation. If not, just skip to the little chapter starter.  
>Explanation: Due to Inoue's help in the war they're letting her 'keep' Ulquiorra, so to speak. They're like "basically you don't mess anything up or kill any humans and we're cool, just stay outa the way." For those who were curious as to why Ichigo was so chill with Ulquiorra's revival; he never really wanted to kill the guy, so seeing him alive, well, and happy is a huge relief to him. Last couple of things. Orihime has agreed to let Ulquiorra stay with her, and he sleeps on the spare futon out in the living room. (he rolls it up every day so it's not in the way, despite Orihime saying it's no trouble.) When Ulquiorra refers to his studies or schooling he's talking about working on his own, reading out of high-level text books form the library like the huge dork he is.<p>

Basically, that's it, but if you have any more questions shoot me 'em in your review and I'll try to answer as well as I can!

Now, without further ado, Nothing Simple.

|Chapter 1|

|The Movie|

"Rin."

I repress a long inward breath, what I know now to be a yawn due to an explanation from Orihime. The girl in the movie stutters out a long greeting, never meeting the eyes of the man before her as she curls in on herself.

"You are hiding." The man says. "Why?"

She explains to him what the human villagers have done to her. She has been accused as a witch because of his presence and frequent gifts, and as such, she was tied and 'exorcised.' She's still dripping wet due to the holy water, and her cheek is starting to swell.

I lean over to Orihime. "Why are we watching this?"

"Shh!" She leans into me- unmindful of our close physical proximity. For some reason this pleases me, which is odd since I usually do not like to be touched. I will think more on this later. "It's almost my favorite part!"

Clearly the demon man and the young girl are infatuated, and it is obvious this will be the turning point in their relationship. What is so interesting about this is hard to see, and even harder to understand since she has seen this before.

My stomach churns in discomfort as she settles into my side, biting into her lip as she focuses completely on the movie before her. I wonder if she realizes that her bare legs are touching my arm, as she has them drawn up to her chest. They're smooth today.

"Where has the hair on your legs gone?" I ask, without thinking. It's odd to me that the last time I saw her in shorts like this she had hair, and now it is gone. Is she aging? Is she sick?

She blushes and stutters out a quick, "I sh-shaved" before she's drawn back into the movie. The girl is confessing her love to what she believes to be thin-air as she changes, unknowing of the fact the demon sits with his back to her just beyond her sight. He hears everything she says.

I am still curious about the hair. "You shaved the hair off? Correct me if I am wrong, but I had thought that only men shaved- and it is for their facial hair, not their legs."

"Um, girls don't like to have hair." She's turning red again.

"But in this world your females usually have much more hair than-"

"On our head. That's the only place we like hair."

I pause to consider this. "… The _only_ place?" Not even their arms?

She seems to think of something else- something 'dirty' as she puts it- and goes bright red. She turns to me with wide eyes and says, "U-Um! Isn't that a little personal?"

I'm not sure what she's talking about, but I do not wish to overstep my boundaries. "Forgive me, I had not intended to pry." A second passes before she looks back to the movie. The girl is crying into the demon's chest as he holds her there. Odd.

I still can't seem to stop thinking about the hair. "In this world do your men shave their legs? Should I-"

"It doesn't matter." She rushes out. "You haven't grown any facial hair, and that's all you need to worry about."

Well, if she says it doesn't matter, than I suppose it doesn't.

She leans heavier into my side as the movie progresses. The girl- Rin- is kidnapped, and so the demon embarks on a quest to save her. The closer to the end the movie gets, the closer Orihime moves to me, until her head is resting on my shoulder and her hand is settled on my thigh.

The odd twist in my stomach returns every time she moves, and I wonder why it is that in this form I only become hungry when she's touching me. I ate not long ago, as the woman supplied a wonderful fish soup for dinner, and usually I do not grow hungry again after I have eaten.

The demon finally reaches the village where the girl has been hidden. Orihime sits up for a second in surprise when there's a loud clang of pots and pans on the stone floor inside the movie. Then, she slowly eases back into me, but this time she is in a different position. She lays back, and slowly she begins to almost slide down my form, head trailing over my chest until her head is in my lap.

I am frozen, completely unable to move.

She shifts.

The hunger returns in full-force.

"Sorry, Ulquiorra." She says, sleepy as she rises. I'm not sure what's going on in the movie, as her head blocks it and I had not been paying attention before now. "I need to move, my arm's going dead."

_Her arm is dying?_ "Of course." I'm relieved for a moment, thinking she'll sit back up, but no. She stretches out across my lap so that her head rests on the side of the couch and turns so that her back presses into my front. Her legs curl up on her mostly empty cushion, and she gives a long sigh. Her breasts move against my leg with the action.

The demon must have rescued the girl, because he's traveling with her, and it's night. She wakes up when he stops to make camp and smiles at him.

"You found me." She whispers when she sees him.

They exchange some heavily romantic dialog, and then very suddenly he has his mouth pressed to her own. Now, this _is_ a surprise, because I did not think the movie would end in her death- certainly not at his own hands, and never would it have crossed my mind she was to be devoured. So this demon was a hollow after all.

But then… no, they both seem to enjoy this act, and he does not consume her, he just… touches her.

Ah, yes. I recall now that this action is referred to as a 'kiss.' A gesture of affection between two individuals.

I look down at Orihime and find her dreamily smiling as she watches the two onscreen. She has not kissed any of her friends before, and she is very physical with her affection, so I suspect that this is a romantic gesture. It would go with the theme and dialog of the movie, so that would make sense.

What doesn't make sense is the fleeting idea of leaning down to kiss her, and the intense wave of that odd hunger that it brings. Orihime is a friend to me, and I have no wish to exchange long stretched of speech with her where I compare her to the moon or the stars.

And yet the idea of kissing her is not repulsive.

I think back to all I have read on the subject of a kiss, and recall that it is sometimes a gesture between friends and family. Family members will kiss their loved ones on the forehead of cheek to show affection, and this can also transpire between close friends. It is similar to a hug, which is something I do have experience with, as I have been on the receiving end of many from the woman herself.

A kiss. A symbol of affection between friends and family, that is all that it is.

The movie ends and Orihime lets out a loud groan, which for some reason makes me feel like perhaps I should have covered my ears before she stretched. She turns so that she is laying on her back, still on me, and gives a sleepy smile.

"I should get to bed." She says.

I do not know what to do. "Perhaps."

"I don't have school tomorrow…" She trails off, and then eyes the TV. "Do you want to watch another movie?"

"You will fall asleep half way through."

She shrugs.

"I do not wish to watch another."

"Want to play a game?"

"Will you fall asleep?"

She smiles sheepishly. "Maybe."

"Then no."

She puts. "Aw, but Ulquiooooooooora!"

"You are whining." I recognize. "You are not a small child, are you?"

"No. But come on, I don't want to go to bed yet."

"Why not? You are tired enough."

"Because." She pinks and shrugs a shoulder. "I… want to hang out with you."

She desires my company? That is a proclaimed measure of affection. Not so far from a kiss. "I will be here in the morning, will I not? We may do as you wish then."

"Promise?"

"I swear it."

"Hm…" She rolls off of the couch- literally- and then gives a loud huff on the floor. "I can't make it. I'm too tired to stand."

Though I know how to recognize a joke by now, I cannot help but stand and peer down at her. "Are your legs broken, woman?"

"Ughhhh."

"Are you dying?"

She rolls over one more time to glare at me.

"Have a good night on the floor." I turn to leave her there, but she yells.

"Wait!"

I turn.

"You'd just leave me here on the ground? The cold, unforgiving ground? I'm so fragile, Ulquiorra, I would barely be able to walk tomorrow!" She gives a loud huff and throws a hand onto her forehead, dramatically fluttering her eyes.

Now I realize she's stalling for time.

With a shake of my head I walk back to her side before bending at the waist to retrieve her. She lets out a startled yelp when I put one hand under her knees and another behind her back, and then laughs a little as I lift her and stand.

"Ulquiorra, I was just joking around, you don't have to carry me!" She laughs again, squirming in my hold. I tighten my grip and walk side-ways through her door, careful not to drop her.

"It is too late now."

Carefully I let her down on her bed, where she promptly worms under the covers. She continues to smile up at me when she's settled, pink blankets wrapped around her in a large cocoon.

"Thank you." She whispers.

"It is no trouble." I say, careful not to look to closely at her eyes. Recently I have noticed that one glance from those gray irises can utterly subdue me. Regardless of my careful aversion, I catch a glance, and suddenly I want to tell her that I enjoy her company, too. She just looks so small in her bed; with her hands bundled up in the covers that I can't help the affections I had contemplated during the movie returning to my mind.

Her lips- no, no I cannot kiss her lips. It is too far.

But her forehead…

After a brief calculation of the risks and the potential gain- she will surely smile twice as much if she knows she means as much to me as I apparently do to her- I decide to go ahead with the action.

I reach down to her and push her hair away from her forehead, which makes her give a gentle sigh and smile. Paying no mind to how red she goes the closer I come to her, I bend down to her, and without giving it to much thought, press my lips to her forehead.

She goes completely still.

This, of course, gives me the impression that I have overstepped the boundaries of our friendship, and so I quickly straighten. She is not angry, though. In fact, she's watching me with a face so red I can barely believe she's not feverish, mouth slightly agape.

Still… "Was that inappropriate?" I ask quietly.

She numbly shakes her head. "N-no…"

"Hm." Stomach twisting more now than even before, I swiftly turn on my heal and make way for the door. "Goodnight, woman." I click the light off before she can reply, and then shut the door on the way out.

I hear her just barely as she says, "G-Goodnight… Ulquiorra."

I ignore my bed that night, and sprint straight to the kitchen. Oddly enough, the leftover soup hardly helps my stomach at all, and all night I lay on the spare futon thinking that maybe that demon was eating the girl after all. He looked just as oddly hungry as I felt, after all.

I decide that perhaps this is not hunger than I am feeling after all.

_Damn it._

I do not sleep.

|ooo|

|Author's Note|

For those who are wondering, the movie isn't real. I seriously thought up a Sesshomaru x Rin fanfiction and decided to make it a movie for Orihime. Thanks!


	2. Freckles and Phone Calls

|Note|

Sorry this is so short! I promise next week I'll upload a longer one!

-Chapter 2-

Following the forehead-kiss from our movie night, Orihime seems to destroy all physical barriers between us. I am not sure if this frightens me or makes me glad, but in any case, there is hardly any time spent in the apartment where she is not touching me in some way. On the couch she sprawls out over my lap and completely forgets about my body existing at all, it seems, as she plays video games with one heel up on my shoulder while she hangs off the edge of the couch, racing other players online. During breakfast she slowly inches closer to me at the table, until our knees are touching, at lunch her feet are tangled with mine, and at dinner she has one leg between my own at almost all times- touching.

I would have mistaken these things as romantic advances if it were not for the one they were coming from. Orihime never touched in a sexual way, but rather initiated our contact simply because we were friends and, oddly enough, didn't actually seem to be aware that she was doing it.

I, on the other hand, am very aware of this phenomenon, as its currently causing her to sit with her legs bent at the knee above my lap, heels dug into the couch and touching my leg, while she leaned so that her thigh and calf pressed into my torso.

"Can you believe it?" She's furiously texting away on her phone, sucking on a Popsicle while she does it. Her hair is pulled up, back out of the way, to reveal lightly freckled shoulder. This is a bit of a foreign sight to me, as she isn't usually one to wear tank tops with straps as thin as the ones she's currently showcasing. Even her pants are shorter than usual, the jeans cutting off high, high above her knee.

I, having been distracted by the discovery of freckles on her shoulders, have no idea what she's talking about. "Hm?"

Luckily, because it is Orihime I'm talking with, I get to hear the whole story again without asking. "Tatsuki got disqualified at nationals! They put an already-injured boy into the ring with her so that when she hit his leg it would break! According to the doctor he'd already had a hairline fracture. The nerve of some people- doing all that just so she can't win for the third year in a row."

"I can believe it." I say, trying not to become distracted by her freckles again. It's odd I had not noticed them before, but they're very, very light. One of the larger marks is shaped like a star. "Humans and hollows are not so different."

"But still. It's supposed to be fair!"

"Perhaps they will let her re-join if they are presented with medical evidence?"

She sighs, and slouched farther down on the couch so that her behind slides up onto my lap. She doesn't notice. This is bad. "It's too late. They've already moved the finals up."

"Woman-"

"And they can't get her up there because there's already an even number. So unless someone drops out she's just sunk."

"Orihime, do you realize-"

Her phone rings and she sits up, quickly, now firmly situated on my lap. "Hello?" I open my mouth to alert her of the position she's put herself in, but I have no time. "Tatsuki! I was just about to reply to you! You- Wait, really?" She shifts on my lap and a spark goes running from my throat to my stomach. It's suddenly much warmer than it was before.

"No way!" She jumps a little, once, and then comes back down onto my lap. A dull warmth spreads from my stomach up through my ribs, down into my legs, shoots into the tips of my fingers and I realize what's going on.

_Damn it. She's beginning to arouse me._

To call it mortifying would be an understatement. To think that she- that childish woman with her duck pajamas and her cat ringtone- could manage to become an icon of sexual allure to myself is beyond embarrassing, and the fact that she's managed it without even trying is even more so.

She squirms again.

I don't care how exciting the news Tatsuki brings her is.

I reach up and grab her phone, plucking it from her grasp to flip it closed.

"Hey!" her eyes are wide in shock. "Ulquiorra, what-"

"Woman," I manage through my shame, "Do you realize what it is you're doing?"

For a second she looks puzzled, but then as she takes a second to absorb her surroundings it hits her. Her face turns from its normal shade to cherry in the blink of an eye. She flies to her feet, frantically waving her hands in the air.

"S-sorry Ulquiorra I didn't mean- I- I'm not a pervert I swear- I'm sorry I didn't realize I was- I was just excited and I'm so used to you and I-"

"It is fine, woman." I wave it away like she hasn't send me spinning into a haze that will surely mean my destruction. I stand and press her phone back into her hands. "It does not matter. I simply wished to move you so I may leave- I have been meaning to go for a walk."

"Oh." Her blush recedes. "O-oh. Right! Sorry! Well, uh, you best be on your way!"

"Indeed."

The moment I'm out in the heat I begin to walk, determined to map out the entire city before I go back into that damned apartment. By then I should be too tired to concern myself with her accidental touches and gestures.

Of course, as I often am in matters concerning the woman, I'm wrong.


	3. Un-Lust and Games

The incident with the woman sitting on my lap- all on accident- does not mark the end of her physical affection. I would say that she was self-aware for maybe four or five hours before she slipped right back into her old habits.

This was both a relief and terrifying for me. On the one hand, I now recognize that I enjoy her touch, and so receiving it brought me pleasure. But the problem is that my twisted mind and defective body have to warp her meaningless gestures into something else.

She's doing her homework, stomach pressed to my lap as she kicks her legs behind her. We're on the floor, and I'm leaning against the couch while she lays on her front chewing on the end of her pen.

"Ulquiorra, what's another word for turns?"

"Rotates."

"Already used it."

"Revolves, spins, orbits."

"Oh! Perfect, thanks!"

She's working on her science paper, eating rice out of a dish to her right. She continuously licks her lips as she eats, making them shine in the corner of my vision. This looks appealing, for reasons I do not understand.

I attempt to focus on something else- the book in my hands, perhaps. I've re-read the same sentence almost five times now, and it's starting to grate on my nerves. It is easy to read a textbook when she is not around, but when her bottom wiggles in the air and her heals bounce from it and to the floor repeatedly, it's extremely hard to concentrate.

"Ugh." She suddenly slams her book closed, paper between the pages. She turns so that she's on her back, arched up over my legs in a way that makes her breasts slope back and touch her chin as she pouts at me.

"What is it, woman?" I pretend I am very busy with the book in my hands, even though I've read about the same formula almost thirteen times now and I am no closer to absorbing the words now than I had been in the beginning.

"I'm bored."

"You have work to do."

"I'm practically finished."

"Practically does not equal completely."

"My partner is sick." She reasons. "Technically, I'm ahead of schedule since we won't even get to meet tomorrow."

"Technicalities matter not."

She blows her hair from her face and deepens her voice to mock me. "Technicalities matter not." She repeats, adding as much pomp as she can to the three words.

I just give her a long look form the corner of my eye.

She sits up with a small giggle and then spins around so fast that her hair catches my face like a whip as she turns. I pretend that it did not happen to save her the embarrassment and to avoid the endless apologies she's likely to give.

I act as though I am reading while she stares at me, turning her head side to side as if I am some puzzle she's trying to figure out. At first it doesn't bother me, but then a minute drags by and she is still studying my face.

"What is it?" I finally ask.

"Nothing." She leans over to look at me from a lower angle, head blocking the view of my book. I stare back at her. "I'm just memorizing your face."

I arch a brow. "And why is this?" I ask, ignoring the tightening in my gut.

She shrugs a shoulder. "Just because. I don't want to forget." She leans back to take me in from another angel and I look back down at my book.

"I'm not going anywhere." I remind her. "You won't forget so easily."

"But what if you get tried of me?"

"Vacation."

"What if you start to hate me?"

"Impossible."

"What if-"

I loudly shut my book and set it down at my side, looking up at her with a dry frown. "Just because you think it right to avoid your work doesn't mean you have to interrupt mine, Orihime."

"And yet," She grins, "You still put your book down."

_Damn it._ "It's the practical thing to do." I lie. "If I wish to study in peace I need to eliminate the possibility of a returning distraction."

"Yay! Five points for Orihime!" She jumps up like she's won something, pumping her fist in the air. Once she's done with the display she leans down, hands on her hips, unknowingly displaying her chest in a very lewd manner.

I look away.

"Let's play a game!"

"What game?"

"Cards."

"Woman, I have beaten you at every card game you know."

"Monopoly?"

"Too long."

"Charades?"

"You win every time."

"Hide and seek!"

I consider it. "… What is this 'hide and seek' game?"

"Yay! Okay, it's simple. We take turns hiding and the other person counts. And when you're done counting to fifty you have to look for the person hiding and then they have to be it."

"It sounds pointless."

"But it's fun."

"Fine. Are there any other rules?"

"Um… yes! No shunpo or detecting spiritual pressure, that's cheating. And- wait, can you see in the dark?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Do I look like a feline to you, woman?"

She laughs. "I don't know, I figured it could happen, okay?"

"Hm."

"Well in that case I've already established all the rules. You count first!" She sprints around happily, flipping lights off as she goes.

"Do the lights stay off?" I ask as the apartment is plunged into darkness.

"Yep! Oh, and close your eyes when you're counting- no peaking! And when you're done yell 'ready or not, here I come,' okay?"

"Fine."

I silently count in my head, eyes closed, and listen as she giggles and runs around the apartment. By the time I reach thirty she's quiet enough that I'm not sure where she's gone. The urge to find her by seeking out her spiritual pressure is extremely tempting, but I resist.

Fifty hits.

I stand, blinking in the darkness. The room is barely lit up by the light of the moon from one window and the glow of the street lamp outside another.

"Ready or not, here I come."

I start the search by going to the most obvious locations. I check under the bed and in the closet, and then behind doors and in the shower. She's very good at this game of hers, I find, and suddenly it is not as pointless as I thought. This is a game of skill, and thus far she is besting me.

I start checking under furniture, behind things, and in cupboards. I go so far as to look inside of the washing machine and the dryer, but she's nowhere to be found.

Surely she didn't leave the apartment. Her keys are still over by her books- I know because I stepped on them just a moment ago. The door makes a shrill and distinctive noise when it opens, too, so I would not have missed it.

I start re-checking locations.

As I walk through the kitchen again, I bend down and look in the cupboards.

She explodes laughing so suddenly, so near me, and so loudly I jump back and crash into a chair.

She's been sitting on the kitchen counter this entire time, cramped into the shadows- sitting there in plain sight. I have walked by her half a dozen times, at least.

I can't help the heat rising to my face.

"O-oh, Ulquiorra, I'm sorry!" She holds her stomach as she laughs, jumping down from the counter. She grabs my hand and helps me regain my balance, still laughing. "I-I just thought- hahahahaha, I thought you would- would find me right away!" She starts wiping at her eyes.

I say nothing.

"It's an old trick," She explains, calming down. "Hiding in plain sight can be the trickiest thing! Tatsuki taught me that." She gropes for me in the darkness, and when her hand brushes my stomach she quickly finds my arm, clinging to it as she laughs again.

The brush of her fingers against my abdomen burns a path that stays warm long after her fingers have left.

This is getting out of hand.

"Hey, Ulquiorra?"

I look down at her, still slightly ashamed at having been so easily fooled.

"Thank you." Her voice is softer, now.

"For what?"

"For playing with me. No one's done that for me in a long, long time."

"It is no trouble, woman."

She gives a small noise, almost a laugh but not exactly, and then nervously her other hand fumbles to find the sleeve she's not holding. I'm confused as to why she's got my shirt's cuffs in her hands for a moment, until she gently tugs on the garment, pulling me closer to her, so that our chests are almost touching.

The fire in my stomach roars to life. I can't help my eyes from settling on her lips, still shiny in the dim light from the window, only a breath away from my own. When my eyes flick back up to meet her own I hear her swallow.

Quickly, she rises up on her tiptoes, kissing me on the forehead without a noise. She lingers there, for a minute, hands clenching my sleeves so hard I'm afraid she's going to rip them for a moment.

I can't move. My joints are all ice and my veins are on _fire_.

She draws back after a moment, face light with a small blush, and then looks away. "Thank you." She says again, voice a little stronger than before.

I nod, trying not to let my shakiness show. "Now it is my turn to hide?"

Her smile is breath taking. "Oh! Oh yeah! I'll go and count!"

She rushes off to the base of the couch, attempting to repress her excited giggles. My skin still burns where she kissed it, and when I close my eyes, all I can see is her smile.

Something tells me that this is not simple lust.


	4. Pets and Honor

Sorry that this one is a little late! I'll hopefully get to replying to reviews in a little bit. :) By the way, is the Monday update schedule okay? I feel like it's going slower than it actually is.

Anyway, here's wonderwall.

_._._._

The human custom of anniversaries escapes me. It is an odd thing to mark dates and celebrate or mourn once a year. It should be that something happens and then it is over with. Birthdays, weddings, achievements. It happens and then it is done. Why humans feel the need to re-live these things is beyond me, especially when they might bring about pain.

She is crying. Today is the anniversary of her brother's death, and as such she has spent the day being miserable. In the morning she got up and did not make herself anything to eat, which was unusual enough, but then she lay on the couch and did not turn the TV to her usual morning show. She just stared at the ceiling, not moving, not preparing for school, nothing.

She breathed.

"Woman," I said, "You will be late if you do not get ready now."

She just let out a long breath, turning on her side. "Hey, Ulquiorra," She said, softly. "I… I think I'm going to skip school today."

This, of course, raised every red flag in my mind. The woman never skipped school. She was very dedicated to getting there on time, if not early, and was always eager to go, even if she did not want to do the work that would come from it. The fact that she wanted to skip a day was alarming enough, but then she had to take it further by saying,

"I think I'll just wait until after the weekend. Take today and tomorrow off."

I realized something was wrong. "Are you sick?"

"N-no. I just don't feel like going."

On the television I had observed it was a perfectly normal thing to check another's temperature with a hand placed to their forehead. I took a few steps towards her and did such, noticing she did not flush like usual at being paid more attention to than usual. She just stared at me.

"What is the matter?"

She took in a long, long breath and held it, closing her eyes.

"You are sad." I realized.

She nodded. "Um, yes. Today… um, today is the anniversary of Sorra's death."

I am no fool. I had heard plenty of the legendary Sorra Inoue, who fought off monsters and storms despite being a mere human. By the woman's account he was most likely the strongest human to have been in existence, as she told me he once fought off one hundred zombies in a night of her childhood when she was sick. Truly he must have been an incredible man, and since Orihime is as she is, it was no wonder that she missed him. Even if he had not been her brother, it is of no doubt that she would have loved him still.

_(Note: I have found there are different types of 'love'. One may love their friends in a friendly way, and this is not romantic. The same is to be said for family members- when the woman says she loved her brother she does not mean she was romantically interested. Do not forget this so that complications do not arise in the future.)_

I find it hard to believe that a man such as Sorra Inoue could have been felled by something so mundane as a car accident, but the woman would not lie, and so I understand that despite this Sorra's immense power his body was still as fragile as any human's.

She begins to cry before I can say anything.

"I- I'm sorry." She sniffles. "I- I just think about him and I get so sad and- and I know you don't like to see my cry and that- that it's kind of gross- I'm sorry- I just miss him so much, Ulquiorra. I miss him so much."

For a moment I cannot even move, much less say something, as she sobs on the couch, hands clasped over her eyes. But then the desire to comfort her swells inside of my chest. I do not know any words that would comfort her, nor do I believe it an appropriate time to kiss her forehead as I had one time before. And so I sit on the floor next to her, and do just as I have seen her to a dog which had wined in sorrow at her through a gate.

I place my hand on top of her head and move it down in a firm stroke, palm soothing over the crown of her head and down over her shoulders, always on top of her hair. I do this repeatedly, watching for any change in her emotional state.

She slowly stops shaking with tears, and after a few more sniffs she tentatively peeks out at me from behind her fingers.

She watches me for a moment, and I continue with the comforting motion, realizing that it is working.

After a minute more, she drops her hands, face seemingly confused. She then says, "Um… Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, woman?"

"Are you… _petting_ me?"

I do not understand why she sounds so confused, but I nod, recalling that is what she called it when she did the same to the dog a day before. ("Here, Ulquiorra, you try to pet him, he's super soft! Aren't you, you cutie little baby? Oh, yes you are, yes you are! You're a good boy, yes you are!")

She smiles.

And then she bursts into laughter.

I recoil from her, startled by the sudden swing in her mood, and watch her sit up to wipe her tears away. She is still laughing as she does this, straitening her Sailor Moon pajamas as she goes, and then she just shakes her head.

"Sorry, Ulquiorra!" She giggles. "It's- it's just that you were _petting_ me and-" She starts to laugh again. "I'm s-sorry I- I don't know why it's so funny to me, I just-"

Well, clearly she did not think I held the capacity for empathy within me. I'm surprised that she would make fun of me for this, but I find myself growing upset as she continues to laugh. I stand, shove my hands in my pockets, and watch her try to compose herself.

"Oh- Oh, Ulquiorra, don't be angry! It's- it's just," she smiles now, eyes bright once more, "Petting is for animals!"

Oh.

Well, that does explain her laughter.

Now I feel even more like a fool. Of course humans would comfort each other in a manner not like that in which they would their pets. I am not sure how this escaped my attention, but now that she has pointed it out to me, it's blaringly obvious.

"Don't be embarrassed." She says, voice soft again. She seems to have recovered from the momentary mirth my stupidity brought her, and is slowly slipping into sadness again. "It… it was nice."

I look away from her. "Hn."

"Really, thank you. For trying to comfort me."

I say nothing, unsure of how to reply in the first place.

"Ulquiorra?"

"What is it?"

"Maybe… maybe I could put my head on your lap. And you could- you could do that again?"

I turn and eye her, trying to decide if she's making a joke or not. Her face seems sincere enough, and so I move to the couch as she has instructed, allowing her to use my lap as a pillow of sorts.

"Do not expect me to coo at you as you did that dog." I say, beginning to run my hand over her head.

"Aw, but Ulquiorra, aren't I a good girl?"

Even I can appreciate her accidental innuendo, but I do not comment on it. "If you miss your brother," I say, "then perhaps we should pay him a visit."

"Huh?"

"I am not speaking of going to Soul Society. It is custom here to visit the graves of those you have lost, is it not?"

"Oh… yes. It is." She is quite for a second. "You would do that for me?"

"If you plan on skipping school I do not see any problem skipping my own schooling to spend the day with you."

"You're sweet… That would be nice."

"Hm."  
>"I'll make the rice balls. Will you make some soup?"<p>

"Of course."

"Okay… but first… I just want to lay like this for a little longer. Is that okay?"

"Do as you wish." I, for one, would be content to sit like this for a very long time. While it worries me, I push the thought back in favor of learning the soft texture of her hair, watching as she grows more and more relaxed, sweet face the same gentle pink as her clothes.

Later, when we visit Sorra's grave, she introduces me.

"This is Ulquiorra," She says. "My friend."

The title holds more honor and meaning than being the fourth espada did.


	5. Butts and Heartbeats

I'm starting to actually like Mondays becuase of your reviews. Thank you so much to everyone who's been keeping up with this story- you really make writing worth while. :)

**Warnings for this chapter:  
>Underage drinking is mentioned, but not performed by any of our favorite love birds<br>The use of date-rape drugs. If this is a trigger for anyone, please do not read this chapter. Nothing bad happens, but still. **

Thank you.

[Chapter 5]

This world is dark and cruel, just as Hueco Mundo. It is dangerous, it is cold, and it is unforgiving. Never did I think I would find a world more vile than the one I originated in, but this one is possibly worse- simply because it is disguised as a good place. At least Hueco Mundo did not lie to your eyes- you would see upon entry it was the land of the dead. This world is a venus fly trap; it looks to be like a flower just before it swallows you alive.

The woman's drink has clearly been altered. Her class is having a 'party' of sorts to celebrate the passing of midterms. Kurosaki and Kuchiki are nowhere to be seen, due to a hollow in the area. Usually the woman would have wanted for us to go with, but due to the party she has chosen not to go.

Her silent friend, Sado, had to take an intoxicated friend home almost an hour ago, and the quincy fled the scene as quickly as possible when one of the track girls initiated unwelcome sexual talk with him.

Someone slipped something into her drink while those friends of hers were away, something that's made her flushed and giggly and all too clingy to be normal for her. It is not alcohol, for I have seen her have some of that before at home in celebration of some passed test or another, and I am beginning to understand the purpose of this.

Someone is looking to take advantage of her body.

I do not know which makes me angrier- the thought I didn't notice before it was too late, or the fact that I won't be able to kill the pathetic human trash that was looking to do this to her.

Either way, the situation is getting out of hand.

"Mmm, Ulquiorra." She has her arms wrapped around my neck breath smelling definitely like peach. "Ah, do you want to dance?" She presses herself flush against me in a manner not like her in the least.

"No. I would not. May we leave now, woman?"

"Noooooo. I don't wanna go, mmm…" She presses her face into my neck, lips wet, hands clenching in my hair. No one is looking at us any different than the various other couples engaged in such disgusting sexual displays around the room, but it still irks me knowing that anyone is allowed to see her like this. It is unacceptable. "I wanna… I wanna dance!" She rolls her hips against mine, pushing my back firmer into the counter behind me.

I stumble reaching for my glass of water, which has not left my sight, and take a long drink to quell the sudden dryness of my mouth. _Damn it. This is not good._

There's a boy glaring at the two of us in what I assume is jealousy from a few paces away. His eyes keep training on the woman's behind before trailing further up, and I do not like the way he looks as though he's planning something. There are others in the room with eyes mirroring his own, too.

"We need to leave."

"B-But Ulquiorra, you're so pretty and I… I want to… to…" She pulls back and looks at my lips.

_If she is going to kiss me, I will have it be at a time when she truly wishes such things, not when she does not know what she is doing._

"No." I put my hand up over her mouth as she swoops in for the kill, becoming frustrated as she opens her mouth against my palms to lick it. She giggles as I recoil, wiping my hand on my pants while I narrow my eyes at her. "You're being ridiculous."

"Ulqui, dance with me, please?"

Before she can do that infernal thing with her hips again, I swiftly bend with my knees, wrapping an arm around her shins. I stand, carrying her with me, and ignore the gawking humans as she falls laughing over my shoulder.

_Where is that Arisawa?_ I think, wondering why the woman's best friend had not been there to watch out for her. They'd come together, so it would most likely be wrong to leave the other girl.

I discover her soon enough, clearly enraged as she attempts to pull one of the woman's other friends off of a boy that's clearly not with her for the conversation.

"Come _on_ Michiru, let's go!" The boy with the aforementioned girl slips his hands up under her shirt. Tatsuki swiftly reached over to pinch his neck, causing him to crumble. "Hands off!" He slides unconscious to the floor.

"Arisawa."

"Huh?" She turns around. "Cifer." We've met before, and while she's not friendly with me, she does not dislike me. She narrows her eyes, suddenly, noticing I have a squirming Orihime thrown over my shoulder. "Some bastard roofied her, too?"

I nod once.

"Ugh. Okay, we've got to leave, but I can't leave Michiru here." She tugs said girl forward by the back of her shirt.

"No, Tatsuki, you hurt him, I want him, I want to- to-"

"No. Bad. Stop." Tatsuki struggles with the girl, trying not to hurt her in her attempt to restrain the girl. "Michiru seriously, we've got to go!"

I am tired of this. There are men staring at Orihime's breasts because of the position she is in over my shoulder, and the loud music and dim lights are beginning to give me a headache. I'm only two seconds from just ceroing a hole in the roof to at least get some fresh air into the building.

I stoop again, which causes Orihime to giggle, and then pick up this new girl in the same fashion. She doesn't give near as much a fight as the woman, but her hand does find my rear- which is far more offensive.

"Let's go." Arisawa says. She begins parting the crowd, leading the way out, while I try not to let the Michiru girl's groping get to me- it is a battle I am quickly losing, though. I do not like touching in general, and her inappropriateness is not welcome even more so than normal contact would be.

_For the woman._ I think. _She will be upset if I do not help._

As we're nearing the doors Orihime notices where Michiru's hands have strayed. She gasps, loudly, and says, "Don't touch Ulquiorra's ass!"

I would give most anything to be anywhere but in the situation I am now.

"Awwww, come on, share, Hime!"

"That is not for you!" She slaps the other girl's hand away, covering my behind with her own like a shield. It is not something I would have wished for in a hundred years.

"Cifer?" Tatsuki is holding the door open. "Your eyes went wide. Are you okay?"

Orihime giggles as she begins patting my pockets, still shooing Michiru away as she does.

"F-fine."

Arisawa raises an eyebrow at my stutter, but says nothing. She understands a moment later, as I walk past her and out of the building. She does her best to not laugh at my situation.

"Thanks." She says, coming to my side. Our apartment is not far away, and since I have no inclination or care about where the other two belong, I allow them to follow. Orihime would want as much.

"When we arrive at the apartment you will prepare a sleeping place for-" I jostle the other girl on my shoulder with a growl as she pinches my rear, causing Orihime to hide it more protectively under her hands. "-yourself and this damned girl." I manage.

Arisawa notices the small battle between the two girls and just shakes her head. "The things you do for her."

"Orihime has done much more for I than I do for her." I ignore said woman's loud laugh as she sticks a hand into my back pocket, searching it for anything. It's empty, but she doesn't stop.

"Yeah, but you haven't killed Michiru yet, and I don't really think your enjoying having your butt felt up." She laughs as I glare at her, as though this is a game. "Hey, relax Cifer, we're almost there. At least Orihime is, um, trying to shield you?"

Orihime squeezes once and I growl.

Tatsuki just laughs.

When we arrive at the apartment I hand- or, rather, toss- the girl over to Arisawa, freeing my hand to get the keys out of Orihime's pocket. She giggles as I do so, squirming on my shoulder, and I pretend she is not being lewd when she says she likes my touch.

_She has been drugged._ I remind myself. _None of what she says will hold true in the morning._

I trade Arisawa the keys for the other drugged girl, and quietly the martial artist lets us in. She goes about getting things ready for herself on the new guest immediately. I, however, simply kick the door closed before proceeding towards the couch, where I carelessly drop the woman's friend.

She pouts and whines loudly, but I have reached the end of my patients.

"Goodnight." I say, simply, and head to Orihime's room.

I close the door silently behind me when I enter, taking in the sight of her clothes strewn about, just as they had been before we left for the party since she had such a hard time deciding what to wear.

I carefully lay her down on the bed, watching her sigh.

"Ulquiorra…"

"Yes, woman?"

"I feel funny."

I've come to understand funny can also mean odd. "You've been drugged."

"Oh… will you kiss me?"

"No. You are still being influenced by a drug."

She sits up, lazily, and smiles at me as I search the floor for her nightwear. "If I wasn't… wasn't drugged, Ulquiorra, then would you kiss me?"

I do not look back at her. "Perhaps." I brush aside a bundle of panties, noting that for some reason there's a scrap of white lace mixed in with the paw prints and hearts. Odd.

"_Perhaps_? Aren't I p-pretty?"

"Your physical appearance alone is not enough to make me desire you in any way."

"But you like me, do… don't you?"

"Yes."

"So would you kiss me?"

I finally find the nightgown with the orca whales and turn to her, presenting her with the garment. "Go into your bathroom and change. Brush your teeth and then return to bed. You need rest."

She sighs, loudly, and tugs at her hair in annoyance. I realize she will not be able to get it all un-done on her own, since she's pulled some back and curled it, so I amend my previous command.

"Wait here."

I get the brush from her bathroom counter and return to find her picking at the silver buttons lining the side of her skirt- all of which are fake. Without comment I slip up onto the bed behind her and begin to let her hair down, pulling the brush through it as I go. Once it has finally been returned to its normal appearance Orihime yawns, pushing her hands up above her head.

"I'm sleepy."

"Go change and brush your teeth."

She does without protest, taking only a couple of minutes. I notice when she comes out that her nightgown is on backwards, but it really doesn't matter all that much, so I do not say anything.

I just usher her into bed, glad that the whole disaster has gone by without too much trouble thus far. Once she's beneath the covers, tucked in up to her chin, she turns on her side, yawning again.

"Goodnight, woman." I make for the door.

"Ulquiorra?"

I pause.

"I still feel funny."

I turn to her, tired. "Sleep. When you wake up you'll feel fine."

"Will you stay with me?"

"…" I stare at her, trying to decide if her intentions are innocent or not. "Will you attempt to engage the two of us in any sexual act?"

She giggles.

I turn for the door.

"W-wait!" She sits up, hand stretched out to me in a gesture I haven't yet forgotten. I know that whatever she says next will be almost impossible to off-put when she has her hand reached out to me as she does now. There are lifetimes hanging from her fingertips. Lives where I killed her lover and she gave me a heart in return.

"Stay." She says.

I am powerless before her. With a wary glance at her side I make my way to her bed to lay on top of the covers, my back to her. "Do not think this is anything more than sleep, Orihime."

"Okay." She says, but does not listen, as she presses her front to my back, arms coming up over the covers to embrace me.

"Go to sleep."

Her hand presses to my chest.

"Orihime." I say sharply. "I said-"

"I'm not being pervy." She says quietly. "I just want to feel your heartbeat."

"… Oh."

She was not lying. Her hand does not move from where she has braced it over my heart as she begins to drift off. Sooner or later I fall asleep too, not really minding that just this once I will sleep in the clothes I wore earlier that day.


	6. Matter and Memories

Sorry this one is so short! It might be like this for a tiny bit- I've been stressing out about picking colleges a lot and it looks like I'm finally getting close to publishing with my original writing, so I haven't had much time for fanfiction. I promise to uphold my every Monday update pace, though, so don't worry! I just don't know if the chapters will all be as long as they have been in the past. We'll see.

**On another note, this chapter has been re-written since it was first published.**

[Chapter 6]

It has been two weeks since the incident with the woman being drugged. Despite my best efforts, the culprit remains unknown, and thus, alive. She awoke remembering only bits and pieces of what she had done, which was most likely for the better. She would have been mortified if she knew just what that evening entailed. All she seems to recall are the acts of her attempting to seduce me into dancing with her and then her actions at the end of the night where she convinced me to stay with her, but she knows that much more than that happened. She has not asked about what she did, and so I have not told her, but I do wonder if that is the best way to go about things. I know it is likely she is worried she crossed some sort of line in our friendship, perhaps thinking she might have offended me. In reality, I am just glad I was there to be the target of her drugged affections, knowing that there are few others who would have been able to resist her. While I am not so keen on appearances, only an idiot would be blind to her beauty.

Since the party she has been more reserved, due to her embarrassment, but I do not mind. She knows what could have happened, and she knows that she did try to seduce me, so it is no wonder that she would keep her distance a bit more than before. I think that perhaps she wonders if I was offended by her advances, or that I was feeling like she had done something she should not have, but in reality her actions where not her own, and even if they had been I would not have minded. This, of course, creates a whole slew of new problems for me to think over, and so for the time being it is probably better that she keeps her distance.

Still.

I am beginning to almost miss her head on my shoulder when we watch movies. Her hand holding mine when she drags me about stores. Now she sits so that there is a sliver of space between the two of us most of the time, and I am starting to recall her antics with warmth that alarms me. I have never been like this- craving the physical touch of another. It is a development that some might call human, but for me it is different. It is not that I am more human than before, and thus wish for human things, but that since the very first time I met this woman I began to gravitate towards her, though at the time I did not know. After all this time, it is as if I am finally beginning to come to terms with me new-found ability to hold affections for another, and because of that, I am starting to want for said affections to manifest from her.

It doesn't truly matter, in the end. If she does not wish to touch more than we have to, then I will be content to simply speak with her. If the distance she puts between us makes he comfortable, than I will find a way to be content with it.

It is four thirty in the morning. I would not be awake where it not for this documentary on atoms, which is particularly fascinating. People and animals and objects alike are made up of matter, of particles. There is something similar between all things in this universe. There was a time I thought that there was nothing that Orihime and I shared, and now, it's almost with childish fascination I find that we have shared certain traits all along. The same is to be said about everything, of course- I share just as much in common with a house plant- but the fact that the link is there bemuses me nonetheless.

When the documentary begins to explain the existence of places without matter- the dark space in space- I am suddenly distracted.

I hear her shift in her bed, the springs squeaking right before a loud thump echoes throughout the house. I turn the television off and listen, thinking that she must have fallen out of bed. This is a common occurrence, but she usually pulls herself up and slips right back into bed without even seeming to realize she'd fallen in the first place.

Tonight is different.

I hear her let out a loud noise of distress and think that it is possible that I should to move to her, but a second later she's up and running to the door, feet heavy upon her carpet. She flings the door to her bedroom open, eyes wide as she scans the living room. When her eyes fall on me she begins to tear up.

Ah. She had a memory in her sleep. I can see it, there in her eyes. The silly woman just can't forget.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I- I had a nightmare. I dreamt that you- you were dying again- Ichigo- Ichigo killed you and Uryuu and I- I couldn't stop it and poor Kurosak-kun was just a hollow and you were dead Ulquiorra, you were dead and I- I-"

I cross the room in a moment, placing my palm upon the top of her head to comfort her. She doesn't laugh at this, which worries me, so I begin to speak. "It was only a dream." I tell her. "I am not dead, Ishida Uryuu is alive and well, and your Kurosaki Ichigo is himself once more." All things she knows, but I do not know what else to do but tell her.

"I- I know I'm just- I'm just-"

She hugs me.

I stiffen as her arms close around me, underneath my own arms and linking in the back as she presses her wet face into my neck. All that distance that she'd built up between us is broken down by her in a single instant, so quickly and effectively it is like the space between us never existed in the first place. "I'm sorry." She sobs. "I'm sorry I didn't reach out to you sooner, I didn't grab your hand- I- I should have healed you then and there and-"

It is an odd sensation- being embraced. Her form is flush against mine, and I can feel her breasts and muscle and the ties of her pajama pants, the buttons that line the top, everything. It's odd to me that this should comfort her.

And yet, it's not, because even as I stand listening to her ramble out unneeded apologies to me- apologies that I should be reciting, not her- I'm somehow enjoying the warmth of her embrace. It feels safe, somehow.

I find my own arms encircling her, suddenly. "Do not be foolish." I tell her, even if we've been over this before. "You did what you thought was right. If you had brought me back in the exact moment I died it is likely I would have risen again to battle that shinigami boy once more. It would never have ended. What you did was the right thing."

"But I wasn't thinking! If I had thought that it- maybe it would be okay but I didn't wink, think I mean, I- I didn't think about it I just. I just left. I just left you there dead and I didn't-"

"It doesn't matter."

And suddenly, it doesn't.

All those nights in the land of the dead, all those things I did and everything she did to me in return blur beneath the current moment. It was kill or be killed back then, and we both knew it. Nothing from then matters, just for now. Just for one moment while we stand there in the living room, arms twined around each other. It is an odd thing, to be sure, and I know that once the moment ends everything I did to her will suddenly come reeling back into existence, and with it the guilt of my actions will come crawling, but just for now it doesn't matter.

We stand there, for a while, arms around each other. I can feel her heartbeat through the thin material of her over-sized T-shirt, the white one with the Animal Crossing characters on the front.

Steadily her breathing evens out, until finally she's going about inhaling at her regular pace. Her grip around my torso loosens a little, and the moment is over. It matters again. Everything I've done is real. How is it that she's the one saying sorry, here, when there was a time I forced her to watch me kill her lover?

I truly am a monster.

"Hey, Ulquiorra?" She pulls me from my thoughts, voice soft.

"Hm?" I swallow hard.

"Do you regret it?" She draws back, just barely, to look at my face.

"Regret what? Killing Kurosaki Ichigo?"

She nods.

I consider this, for a moment. I must be careful, here, and find a balance between brutality and truth. I cannot lie to her, and the honest truth is that I did not seem to have any guilt over what I did to the shinigami boy. Had she asked me if I regretted her involvement, than I would say yes- yes a thousand times over. But that was not what she had asked.

I did not wish to alarm her, or to scare her away, but there will never come a time when I will lie to her, either. I begin to speak. "No. I was doing what I thought I must. Had he truly died by my hand then perhaps I regret it, but as things are he is walking about fine, and so there is nothing to regret. Does this bother you, woman?"

She shakes her head. "You were doing what you had to."

I am, as always, completely baffled by her forgiving and considerate nature. Where it me, and she had been my warden- if she had acted to me as I had to her… I would never have forgiven. I would have simmered in hate, were our roles reversed. So how? How is it that she can be here with me, now, offering her home and her food and her warmth without a care in the world?

"… Do you resent me for what I did to you?"

She smiles, softly- something I did not expect. "No. But don't be mean to me like you were again, Ulquiorra-kun, or I might cry."

"I do not wish to be slapped again." This is a joke- the first I have attempted. In reality I know I deserve to be hit for what I did, and honestly, deserve what little she did a hundred times over. I almost wish she'd hit me again, just so that maybe the guilt would diminish, even if only a litter. But she doesn't. Because in all this universe of hate, and sorrow, and despair, she is the one thing which is purely and truly _good_.

She actually laughs at my sorry attempt for humor. She goes on, unknowing of my inner conflict. "If someone had told me, back while I was in Los Noches, that a year from then I'd be standing hugging you while you told me a joke I think I would have laughed in their face."

Here I cannot help a small smile. She's right, as always. For the time being, I should concentrate on that, and not on the things I have done and what I deserve. "It is rather odd, isn't it?" Odd that she's here, odd that I'm alive, odd that she doesn't hate me and that she does not command me to repent. I would repent. I would crawl at her feet with apologies spewing non-stop from my lips and I would still not resent her. But she is benevolent, and so this will never happen. I will have to come to terms with my past actions by myself.

Tonight is the second time the woman has asked me to stay with her. I sleep under the sheets this time, her head resting upon my chest, simply because she wants to hear my heart beating. There is nothing sexual about sleeping with her once again, thankfully, for all we do is sleep. And yet, I cannot help but feel a sort of closeness about it that I do not understand- something intimate that goes far beyond the physical act of what we are doing.

It must be some sort of power of hers, to be so transfixing. Waking up next to her, watching her sleeping face in the dim sunlight… it makes me forget how I have wronged her for a single moment, and with those feelings of remorse temporarily gone, I feel like I've actually done something worth my while for once. And yet, I have done nothing at all.


	7. Nightmares and Baking

**WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER**- half-baked smut. Nothing too graphic, and of course you'll all figure out that this isn't me rushing their relationship. Well, you'll see. If you don't like this sort of content just skip down to the end of the chapter where I will put a dumb brief summery so that everyone can still be in the loop without having to read anything that makes them uncomfortable. Thank you!

[Chapter Seven]

Human sexuality is identical to those of a hollow. There are those who crave the opposite sex, and there are those who want for their own gender, there are those who want both, and there are some who take what they get and do not care either way. There are some who do not crave sex at all, and there are some who have conditions to which they may be attracted, and there are some who do not want for sex but enjoy it when it presents itself.

I had thought myself one of the levelheaded ones who did not care for these urges. Never before have I wanted to hold another being, to touch, to kiss, to speak with. But the woman has unraveled every string of my being to tie them around her little finger, so that every which-way she moves, I will follow.

These circumstances are completely out of my control.

"A-ah! Ulquiorra!" She's covered in sweat, hands fisted in her hair as she writhes on the sheets. Nude, head thrown back, lips wet with saliva. This should not appeal to me- I have seen such things before- but I am completely captivated by what I see before me. "M-more. Please, hn, ah," she goes.

This body that I see before me is her own, but it is mine. The sounds she makes are her own, and they belong to me. She is moving and the movement is her own, but it goes to myself. This is what it is to be with another.

She bucks her hips and I nearly whine. The feelings she gives me are all-consuming, too much for one body to handle- I feel as though I'm going to implode or simply burst into ashes like I did before, only now it's not cold and desolate, it's too hot. I'm burning alive and- damn- damn it all I'll add more fuel to the fire if possible.

I press my fingers into her ribs, her hips, the little round bones that jut out from the back of her neck. I want my mouth on all of her, every place I can see, I want my name to only ever be spoken on her lips and I want every moment that defines me to be defined by her.

I cannot even speak.

She lets her own hair go in favor of mine, pulling hard enough to border on pain as she yanks my head down so that our lips may meet. She kisses my forehead, my cheekbones, my eyelids, my nose. My lips. Over, and over, and over, like she is starving and I am meat.

"Ulquiorra! Ulquiorra!"

It's over. Her form is gone from me suddenly, the bed is gone, the moon and her moans and her lips. My eyes fly open and I realize that this entire time I've been dreaming; dreaming of things that should not be dreamed about.

_Disgusting._

The woman is standing above me, head cocked to the side. "Are you okay?" She asks. "You were making a lot of noise and moving, I thought you might be having a nightmare."

_Oh, it was a nightmare indeed._ "I am fine." I sit up and collect the blankets about my hips, attempting to be inconspicuous as I swipe my hair out of my face, ignoring how sweaty I've become.

"Oh! Well, I'm glad you're okay. I was thinking about baking and I was wondering..." She starts to go on about my role in her soon-to-be cooking expenditure, which will likely end in a call to the fire department. I listen to every word, but really, I don't care so much about the catastrophe to come.

"Ulquiorra, you will,"

"And Ulquiorra, can you,"

"Oh! Ulquiorra, do you want to,"

All I can concentrate on is my name off her lips. This is 'nightmare' fuel, for sure.

I truly do disgust myself.

"Did you get all of that?"

I nod once, unable to meet her eyes. "Yes, Orihime, I understand."

She laughs softly. "No need to sound so formal about it!"

_Say my name again, woman, say it. _"Of course."

"Ulquiorra?"

_There. _She says it so fondly, like I mean something. The sound of my name on her lips is enough to undo me all over again and then put me back together, all in the span of a second. She had no idea what she's done to me. "Yes?"

"Why are you blushing?"

I am a wreck. "No reason, it was simply warm." I'm completely over come by the dream; that's the sort of disgusting creature I am.

And yet...

I can't help but wonder how the dream was going to end. Oh, I know what would transpire, but I'll be damned for not wondering what manner we went about it.

I am doomed.

**-Chapter End-**

**Chapter summery for those uncomfortable with sexual situations**

Basically Ulquiorra has a dream about sexual intercourse with Orihime, and when she wakes him up, it bothers him. He thinks it's really gross of him to dream like that, but tries to hide it while she starts talking to him about baking. The entire time he's captivated by how his name sounds when she says it. By the end of the chapter, he's sort of come to terms with thinking about her in a sexual way. That's pretty much it!


	8. The Undead and Hitting

This chapter goes out to Aynessa! Thanks for the suggestion- it was too good to pass up and I just had to write it. ;) Enjoy!

This chapter is rated T

[Chapter 8]

Two days after the first dream of Orihime I have another one. It plagues me all day. Even now I can hear her urging me to move faster, be harsher, her desperate pleas. I am a filthy man, it seems, but it is out of my control.

If some deranged man were to storm the apartment with a gun I could stop the bullet. If a hollow attempted to steal her soul I could kill it. If the very ground crumbled beneath out feet I would be able to hold her up on a platform made of my spiritual pressure alone. And yet, there is little I can do against myself.

Despicable.

"Oh, wow, Inoue, you really killed him." Kurosaki said with a grimace.

I stare at the screen, unable to believe that her tiny blue-haired avatar was able to beat my larger, quicker, sword bearing one.

She just giggles. "Sorry Ulquiorra-kun! I can't take it easy on you just because you're an armature, you know?"

I narrow my eyes at her, but that just causes her to laugh again.

"Don't feel bad, Cifer." The Kuchiki girl says. "I don't get it either, but those guys you control will come back to life for the next game, so it's okay."

Kurosaki turns to her, sighing. "Rukia, we've been over this, they're not _real_-"

"Orihime, I don't have enough hair things to finish this." Kuchiki cuts him off, uncaring, and gently holds another long curl of Orihime's hair up on top of her head. "And if you keep moving like that I'll never finish."

"Sorry, haha, I just get so excited!"

"Let's go up to my room." Kuchiki suggests.

Kurosaki loudly sighs. "Rukia, it's _my_ room."

"Oh, yeah, because that doesn't sound weird at all. Hey, Inoue, let's go up to Ichigo's room!" She snorts. "Do you really care that much, anyway?"

"Yes, I care! The second I start letting you call it your room is the moment you get it into your head that it's okay to decorate with your weird Chappy posters."

"Fine then." She turns to Orihime and says, "Sorry, Orihime, but it looks like we're heading to _Ichigo's_ room to get hair things and ribbons. My bad."

He glares. "Rukia, you-"

"Bye boys!" She stands on her tiptoes with Orihime as they rise, hands up high to keep hold of the latter's hair. "Keep playing with your undead tiny screen people, we'll be back later!"

"They're not undead!" Kurosaki yells. It doesn't matter, though. They've both gone giggling up the stairs, slamming the door to the shinigmai's shared room loudly behind them.

For a second it is silent.

"Geez." Kurosaki rubs a hand over his neck and scowls, as is usual for him, as he leans back further into the couch. "She's so weird."

I cannot disagree with that one. They're all odd.

He turns to me, then, and says, "Is Inoue weird like that? I'm starting to think that maybe I just don't understands females, period."

"That may be because every female you come in to contact with is insane." I answer simply. Of all the company I have been exposed to because or Kurosaki and Orihime, Arasawa is the least crazy by far, and even she is sort of odd at times. "As for the woman, she is not like _that_. She is different."

He laughs. "Well, not exactly like Rukia, I mean. I just wonder if Rukia's the only person who's so weirdly obsessed with little things."

I think back to Orihime's near meltdown over the cute design she'd cut into her piecrust coming out of the oven looking sort of demonic. "No… She is not the only one." I pale at the memory.

"Well, that's sort of comforting, I guess." He stands, suddenly, and begins towards his kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Water, if it is not a bother."

It strikes me, then, how odd it is that things have become like this. There was a time when I pulled this boy's organs out of his torso while he screamed in agony. Now we sit on the same couch in our casual clothes, talking of things like women and drinks. It is a very humbling sensation- one I do not mind in the least.

He exists the kitchen with a juice box, which Orihime had introduced me to in the past, and a simple glass full of water. "Here you go." He passes me the drink I'd asked for before flopping back on the couch, sipping at his straw while he seemed to contemplate something.

I was just taking a drink when he suddenly says, "So, where do you sleep?"

I swallow. "Orihime has provided me with a futon which I place in the living room. Why do you ask?"

He shrugs. "Just wondering. I was starting to think that most non-humans liked living in people's closets or something."

I raise a brow. "I cannot say the idea of living in Orihime's closet appeals to me. It is a rather small space, and she needs it for her clothing."

"Yeah, I know, I was just thinking out loud." He rubs the back of his neck again, awkwardly. "It's weird that I'd be asking _you_ of all people about girls…"

"I do not see why you would not. I live with a woman and I am skilled in observation."

"Yeah, but you're still learning about being human in general, right?"

"That is true."

He nods. "That's what I meant. Though I guess Rukia's not exactly human…"

"Neither are you." I point out.

He laughs. "You've got a point. I guess out of all of us, Inoue's the most human. It's probably a good thing you're living with her."

"Most likely." I suddenly recall the dreams I have been having of her, then, and almost choke on my next drink of water. I swallow a couple of times, absentmindedly saying, "Although…"

"Although?"

I chose my words carefully. "I am not so sure it is a good thing to be in her presence so constantly."

"Why? Does it irritate you? And don't worry, sometimes Rukia bugs the shit out of me, so it's not a bad thing."

"No, it is not that. I…"

He glances up the stairs as I trail off, the both of us listening as the women in his room burst into a fit of laughter. "If something's bothering you and you can't tell Inoue about it, now's your chance to say something. They'll be up there for a long time."

I weigh my options and then decide he is right. However, I still go about addressing the topic carefully, knowing that our friendship is still not so strong a bond, and that I could easily turn him from me. Hesitantly, I say, "Do you… dream of the Kuchiki girl?"

He flushes red and leans back. "Uh. Well." He huffs once, unable to meet my eyes. "Yeah, I guess."

"I have had… nightmares. Of Orihime, very often recently."

"Nightmares?" His eyebrows raise. "That's different than dreams. Yeah, I've had nightmares about Rukia before. When you care about someone, it happens. You get scared bad things will happen to them, and sometimes your mind can't help but think about it too much, I guess. I used to have dreams about her getting hurt by hollows all the time, but they've mostly gone away now. You probably don't need to worry about it."

"I am disturbed by them." I say, still careful. "In these nightmares, I am the one in the wrong."

"You have dreams about hurting her?" He asks, alarmed. "I mean, it's good that it freaks you out to think about that, but not good that you're dreaming about it. What happens?"

"I am not so sure I am _hurting_ her, to be clear."

He becomes confused. "What do you mean?"

"…" I look away from him.

"Er, how about you just tell me what happens in your dreams and we'll go from there. I can't exactly re-assure you on something if I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Fine." I take in a long breath, and then- still looking away- begin. "The dreams start out simply enough. Most often we are in the apartment on the couch watching something on her television, though I am not sure what. From there things become twisted. At first it is innocent, and she will take my hand into hers like usual, becoming closer to me on the couch as the program she is watching goes on. That is where things change. The details escape me, for in that instant it becomes a sort of blur, but some way or another I… find her beneath me as I press her back into the couch." I swallow.

He nods. "Go on."

"I will not go into the details of the encounter, but in my dreams she becomes unlike herself and urges me to remove her clothing-"

_PFFFFFFF!_ He spits juice all over the floor, eyes wide and watering as he coughs, hacking into his fist as he desperately grabs for a towel slung over the back of the couch to clean the mess with.

I blink once. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah!" His face is red, and he looks like he wishes to sink into the furniture and never be found again. I do not blame him; I had only just begun to reveal what utterly disgusting acts I wished to preform upon the woman. "Just- I- wow! Okay!"

I watch as he cleans the mess he's made, still red.

"I am a monster, am I not?" I ask, quietly.

"Oh god. Uh, no." He sits up, unable to meet my eye. "Let's skip the details all together here, okay? You've been having dreams of s-s-sEx. With Inoue. R-right?"

I look down at my hands in shame. "That is correct, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Okay, listen. As long as… oh god I can't believe I'm talking to you about this. As long as dream-Inoue is saying she wants it and you're not forcing yourself on her, this kind of thing is normal."

I blink, confused. Surely I had heard him wrong. "What?"

"Yeah." He looks away from me, awkwardly. "A lot of people have dreams like that. It's not an evil thing, Cifer, it's just how things are. It probably means you're attracted to her."

"You are saying this as though sex is not an act of violence."

"Listen, I don't know what kind of shit went on in Hueco Mundo, and frankly I don't want to know, but here on earth that sort of thing is actually really… nice. Uh, yeah, nice. People _want_ that sort of thing to happen to them with people they like."

"I do not understand," I say, brows furrowed in confusion. "Would you not be alarmed if you thought of the shinigami woman in this fashion?"

He looks away from me, redder than before.

"Kurosaki?" Surely he doesn't…

"Do some research and stuff, okay? This is normal. And _yes_ okay, I've had dreams of Rukia like that. But it's not like I haven't heard her worming around in her sleep in that stupid closet, okay? I'm not the only pervert. But- yeah, um. Yeah. It's still a private thing, okay, so don't go telling people or anything. It happens to guys and girls, alright?"

"Of course." Relief and shock flood my system in the same moment. What I feel for Inoue is not repulsive?

"Now that we've got that one out of the way…" he lets out a long breath, and then looks up at me with a smirk. "You're hitting on Inoue."

My eyes go wide in shock. "I would never harm her."

"Oh for the love of- No! No, hitting on means you're attracted to her! Oh, just, man I know you're an ex-hollow and all that but holy crap." He rubs at his head with a hand. "Even Rukia knows this stuff better, and she can't even open a juice box for crying out loud!"

"Are you talking about me, Ichigo!?" Kuchiki suddenly yells from the top of the stairs. "I heard my name!"

He turns to her, grinning. "So what if I am, midget? What are you going to do about it? We had a bet, remember! You hurt me at all this week and you owe me an entire day as my slave."

"Ah, yes, I can't physically harm you but, hm, how should I say this? Ah yes." She grins. "Sleep tight tonight, Ichigo."

He gulps.

I really never will understand humans.


	9. No to Romance and Yes to Lunch

Chapter rating: T

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed- I really appreciate it! If you would like to leave a review, but do not want me to reply to is, please put an astrid (*) before or after the text. Thank you again!

[Chapter 8]

After my long talk with Kurosaki, I find I am considerably less unnerved by the dreams of Orihime, which seem determined to plague me no matter what I do. It is still an uncomfortable thing, to dream of her in such a manner, and I have an inkling of a feeling that I should perhaps not let her know that I think such things. Kurosaki had made it very clear that such things were to be kept private. Still- I cannot help but wonder what it means; dreaming of her in such a fashion. I do not dream of others in this way. Clearly, the repeated sexual thoughts of her mean something. What, I am not sure, but I know I will not be going to Kurosaki about it. He is as competent with relations as he is with staying alive- ergo, he dies often.

So I simply think about these matters to myself.

Even now, as we sit at lunch with her two female friends- Kuchiki and Arisawa- I am thinking of what exactly Orihime must mean to me. She is important- more so than anyone else, but what exactly is it that I desire from her?

"So, how long have you and Cifer been dating anyway, Inoue?" the Kuchiki woman asks, taking a bite of rice. "A month?"

Orihime goes red. "N-no, Rukia-kun, you're mistaken! We're just good friends!"

Arisawa gives me a look that says she thinks otherwise. I do not know if I am pleased by the both of them thinking we are romantically involved or not. I am not romantic. I will not sing her serenades or find her horses to ride and beaches to go to. The fact they think myself capable of these things is almost alarming. Is it so clear that I care about the woman?

"Ulquiorra-kun and I-" Her phone begins to meow sporadically. "Oh. Hold on, sorry!"

Orihime excuses herself to answer her phone half way through lunch, as her aunt is calling about rent or something similar. The second she leaves the remaining two females pounce on me as though I am little more than live prey.

"You haven't confessed yet?!" Tatsuki roars.

"Poor Inoue," Rukia shakes her head, "You truly must be leading her on."

I sip at my tea. "I do not know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on! It's clear as fucking day you like her!" Tatsuki yells.

"And?"

"And so why haven't you told her?" Rukia finishes.

I cock an eyebrow up at this. Strange, I did not know liking someone was so important. I've almost come to like the two of them- is it human custom to make it known? "I am certain she knows I like her. She just told you we are good friends."

The two of them exchange a look. Slowly, they seem to understand, and they turn with explanations.

"Oh, Cifer, you really aren't human. We mean _like_-like."

"As in liking her as more than just a friend."

"Like, as a girlfriend."

"It's clear even to me that you're in love with her."

I stare at the purple-eyed female, confused. "In love with her?" Suddenly I feel like my old self again, scoffing at the ideas of such strong emotions taking me over. "I do not feel such idiotic feelings as love."

"Oh _sure_ you don't." Tatsuki rolls her eyes. "I bet you don't even know what love is."

"I do. Love is the emotion Orihime feels for Kurosaki Ichigo."

They both wince, as though they've been hit with a cero point-blank.

I go on. "Love is the pathetic following of a person no matter the circumstance. Love is such blind devotion and hope towards someone that you become incapable of moving on your own."

"Okay, okay back up a sec." Tatsuki holds her hands out like a shield. "Let's start with something you know- the not emotional side of this stuff. Love is the slight widening of your eyes, a faster heart beat, blushing, warming temperatures…"

_Impossible._

Rukia begins, then. "It's wanting to be near someone or touch them or-"

"I am not in love with Orihime Inoue." What was taking the woman so damn long on the phone, anyway?

"Oh yeah? Let's play a little game then. You answer all the questions we ask honestly and if the majority of the answers are yes, then you're in love, and you've got to admit it to yourself. Got it?"

"Fine." After all, I am _not_ in love with her.

"Before that," Rukia says, holding up her phone, "the definition of love is nothing like yours. According to your human dictionaries, it's like this. An intense feelings of deep affection. Or, if you're _in_ love with someone, a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone. And then the over all definition: like very much or find pleasure in." She put down her phone with a grin.

I frown.

"Okay," Tatsuki starts, "question number one. Does the idea of Orihime getting hurt make you upset?"

_Damn it._ "Yes."

Rukia speaks, then, and I realize they will be taking turns so that they have more time to think up questions. They truly are treacherous. "Do you want to see her happy?"

"Yes."

"Do you want her to live a long healthy life?"

"… Yes."

"Would it make you upset if someone betrayed her?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to…" Tatsuki grins, evil as one woman can be. "Kiss her?"

I swallow, and sharply turn my head away. "You did not say your interrogation would be inappropriate for casual conversation."

"Oh please, Cifer, it's not like I asked if you wanted to eat her out."

I sharply turn to her, brows furrowed. "I am not longer a hollow." I tell her. "I will never desire to consume her, and if the urge to feed on human souls remained at all I would never prey upon hers."

Tatsuki's face falls. "That's not exactly what I meant-"

"Are you finished with your questions?"

Rukia let out a long breath. "Almost. Just… do you want to be with her as often as you can? See her smile, hear her laugh? Do you want to wake up next to her every day? Do you want to hold her, make her happy?"

I am a dead man. Damned from the moment I set foot into this restaurant.

Tatsuki adds on, "Do you want to be with her? Physically?"

All I can do is swallow, my throat suddenly dry. The ugly truth rears its head, and I flash back to the dreams, the feeling in my chest when she smiles, the way she looked waking up next to me that one morning. It is not possible that someone like myself could love. What is more, no heart as pure as her own could ever come to be with one so tainted as mine. I cannot be in love- it will ruin me. But the facts are there, and as painful as they may be, there is nothing I can do to evade them.

The two women sit staring at me expectantly, and I know that if I do not give them a reply they won't let it go.

And I did say I would answer honestly.

Watching Orihime come in through the front again, smiling at the manager as she waves, I can only hope that they will not hear my answer as I bow my head before them.

Eyes on my fists, clenched in my lap, I say it- feeling like a prisoner before the execution stand.

"Yes."


	10. Ignore the Nudity and Think of Pies

Ahhhh, big thanks to everyone for keeping me going on this story! I've really enjoyed all of your reviews, and the follows and faves don't go unnoticed either. :) I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last couple. As requested- More Ulquiorra interacting with people who are not Orihime. Tatsuki MAY be a little OOC.

Chapter Rating: T

[Chapter 10]

Since further searching the subject, I have found three things to be true.

One- I am sexually interested in Orihime Inoue

Two- I am romantically attracted to Orihime Inoue

Three- I, Ulquiorra Cifer, may be in love with Orihime Inoue

There are not things that I am completely comfortable with, but regardless, they remain fact. Since this realization I have received the following pieces of advice from her friends, who invited Orihime and I over for a movie night. They put on one of her old favorites and invited us out rather later, so it only took twenty minutes for her to fall fast asleep. The lot of them are diabolical. It is no wonder Aizen met his end at their hands.

Orihime managed to stay awake just long enough for us to make it through one song, which she sang slightly off-key beside me- still coming off as adorable, somehow- before her head fell on my shoulder and her eyes slid shut.

Then they all turned on me.

"So you've got a heart, huh?"

I glare at the women before me- Kuchiki, Arisawa, and for some reason the Lieutenant of the Tenth Division- Rangiku Matsumoto. Kurosaki was the one who said the previous remark, and despite our uncomfortable talk of my dreams just days before, I am not so eager to speak of _feelings_ with anyone; least of all him. "Why is he here?"

"Come on, Ulquiorra, you've got to have a little advice from a man, too."

"Kurosaki," The Captain of the Tenth- Toshiro Hitsugya, beings, "You are blind to your own feelings and have no romantic life to speak of. How your input could benefit Cifer is far beyond me." I do not understand why he is here, either, but there is something aloof about his presence that causes me not to mind his company so much.

"Hey! What, you saying you know this stuff, Toshiro? You have just as much experience as I do!"

"On the contrary." He smoothly replies. "Soul Society's Women Association posted poll results revealing myself to be third most desirable in the seritie."

"What?!"

"It's true!" Matsumoto chimes. "Though I voted for ol' Kuchiki myself."

"All your weird death-god crap aside," Tatsuki interrupts. "Let's move to the kitchen, okay? Trust me, Orihime's a freaky sleeper, as far as we know she's hearing everything we say."

As all eyes turn to the woman, she lets out a loud snore.

"Right…" Ichigo says.

Rukia elbows him in the side hard enough to make him cough, and he quickly says, "Yeah, um, let's move to the kitchen!"

I don't want Orihime to catch wind of anything going on about her, so I carefully alide my hand between her head and my shoulder before lowering her down to lay on the couch. With that settled we all get up and make the move to Kurosaki's dining table, filling around it while the Kuchiki girl raids the refrigerator for snacks. It is there that they ambush me.

"You love her." The lieutenant says, her eyes knowing as though she has some sort of clue. "Don't you?"

"Forgive me," I tersely managed, "But shouldn't shinigami of your caliber actually be doing something of use on trips to this world?"

She grins. "Avoiding the subject, I see."

I turn my head away from the group of fools.

"I think she likes you." The woman continues, and it is only then that they have my attention. I turn my head back to stare the group of miscreants down.

"Tell me what you know."

Arisawa: "Orihime's type is strong, smart-"

Kuchiki: "Someone who cares about her!"

The lieutenant: "A person that can fulfill her _need_s."

The small captain: "Matsamoto-"

Kurosaki: "She cried for you."

"She cries for anyone who is her friend," I say, beginning to feel annoyed. "Do not chalk up her regular self to being in love with me. She is not such a creature to feel for I as I do her-"

"She's comfortable with nudity!" The lieutenant unhelpfully shouts.

I sigh.

"Okay, all these loonies aside," Arisawa- somewhat reasonable and almost trustworthy- takes the floor. "I know Orihime best out of everyone here, okay? So listen up. She likes you. Got it? Before she brought you back she told me all about you, and if there was a way to make your warped mental torture sound okay she found it, because she had me convinced you were a nice guy before you showed up. Let me be clear- I still think you're an asshole, but she likes you and I know you won't hurt her, because you like her, so I'm rooting for you. Get it?"

"... You believe she _likes_ me?"

"Cifer, I've been to your place on movie nights more than once. She doesn't accidentally climb into _my_ lap, does she?"

She has a point.

"And she stopped dropping pies off at the door here for Ichigo." Kuchiki says. "But every time I walk into your apartment it smells like pumpkin and nutmeg."

"Yeah, come to think of it, why _did_ Inoue bake pies for me?" Kurosaki scratches the back of his head, oblivious to the various glares and looks of complete and total disappointment he is receiving. When he sees Kuchiki's blank face he has the gal to look offended. "What?!"

I just sigh and look away from the bunch. It's sad to think that this is the man the woman once entrusted her heart to. He had not even realized he had possession of it, despite the obvious clues?

"Ah, ah, ah!" The big-breasted shinigami woman suddenly says, launching to her feet as she wags her finger in the air. "I know what you're thinking- that it's just plain sad Ichigo couldn't see Orihime liked him despite the obvious clues-"

"What, she _liked_ me?!"

"-but you realize you're doing the same thing right now, don't you?"

I ignore the shinigami boy and his small woman as they begin to bicker about the clarity of Orihime's old feelings. He is adamantly attempting to convince her that Orihime never felt anything more than friendship towards him- the fool- and she is trying to just end the conversation entirely.

I focus instead on my own situation. The evidence doesn't lie, but on the same hand, it would be hard for her not to show me more kindness and affection than others since we live together. She sees me more often, and so it is logical that she would do more for me, just as I do more for her than any other person since we inhabit the same space.

Though, realistically, I would not do much for anyone living with myself were they not she. If I had been housed with Kurosaki I would simply have done my very best to never be around, never make trouble, and become some sort of ghost about their establishment. It is very different with the woman, because she is who she is, so perhaps…

But then, she is kind to everyone. Is she was forced to live with people she did not like she would bake them pie, too, wouldn't she?

"Maybe we're trying to convince the wrong person." The shinigami woman says, folding her arms beneath her large breasts. She does this to make them appear larger, but why, I am unsure. It is clear that no one in the room is interested in her. Perhaps she does it for herself. "What if we just tell Orihime he likes her?"

Kurosaki: "Hey, that's not a bad idea."

The small captain whose name I do not recall: "When you said we had work in the living world, Matsumoto, this is not what I envisioned."

Kuchiki: "It would work, actually!"

Arisawa: "Hime's always had more brains in her heart than her head, I guess. Which is saying something, considering our last test scores…"

I stand swiftly, palms flat upon the table. "No." I order, before they can get out of hand. "I will not have the lot of you informing her of my… _affections_. You will go about it in the wrong way and make her feel uncomfortable, most likely. It is my heart, and it does not belong to any of you, so it is I and I alone who will reveal it. This is not a negotiation. Do you understand?"

They stare at me.

I narrow my eyes right back at them.

"Ne, ne, Cifer-san," Tatsuki drawls, smirking at me like she has some reason to be smug. I do not understand until she goes on to say, "that was certainly a very passionate speech from someone like you, eh?"

"Nonsense." I sit back down.

"Tell her then!" The violet-eyed one says.

"Perhaps I will. Perhaps I won't. Either way, it is none of your business."

"What?" Arisawa crows, "Too chicken?"

There is no shame in fearing rejection, but the way she says it causes me to bristle nonetheless. "Are you implying I am afraid, girl?"

"Hm… yep. Yeah, pretty much." She nods.

"It is not fear that motivates my actions- simply common sense."

"You've been with her for almost a year now, and you've- what, maybe gotten as far as a friendly hug?" When I say nothing she continues. "She's not going to kick you out for admitting you like her now- even if she didn't return your feelings."

"It will make her uncomf-"

"Bwak! Bock, bock, bock, bock…" She flaps her arms like wings, eyes haughty and mischievous as she imitates a certain fowl. "Ba-cock!"

I glare at her.

"Ch-ch-chicken!"

"I will not be goaded into-"

She begins flapping her arms furiously, moving her head as though she's pecking at the table. The others begin to laugh and snort behind their hands; all watching the display like it's the height of humanity's comedy.

Humans are just so… strange.

Orihime's voice suddenly cuts through Arisawa's antics, then, voice sleepy and confused. "Why is Tatsuki a chicken?" She asks, rubbing her eyes. She stands just a bit away from the table, leaning against the wall.

Arisawa freezes.

Kurosaki bursts into laughter, his woman and the two visitors from soul society not far behind, though the white-haired captain hides his laughter behind one hand, disguised as a series of short coughs.

Orihime turns to me, still rubbing one eye. Fatigued, she does not even attempt to understand the situation before her, instead falling back on me to get her to a place where she can rest. "Ulquiorra-kun, I'm sleepy."

I glance back at the clock stationed on the right wall and find that it's almost past midnight. It is no wonder that she is so tired. She is an early riser who is strict in keeping her nine o' clock bedtime, so for her to be up so late and still be able of speech is an impressive feat. "Should we return home, woman?" I ask quickly, not because I am desperate to escape the lot of fools before me, but because I am honestly concerned for Orihime's well being.

She nods, yawning.

She gives her goodbyes quickly, and then we begin home, hands bumping now and then as we walk side by side. She stumbles once, in her tired state, and barely manages to catch herself with a hand on my arm before having a rather rough introduction between the pavement and her face.

"Sorry." She says, blushing. "This is why I don't stay out late, haha…"

I have become very soft in her presence.

Without a word I stop her with a hand on her shoulder, and before she can realize what's happening I pick her up. It is not the hold over my shoulder from when she had been drugged, but a position she has referred to as princess style in the past once or twice. She does not protest even a little at this, though she does go a very deep shade of red.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra." She leans her head into my shoulder.

"It is no trouble. You are much easier to carry than the couch you had me move."

She laughs a little. "I told you to scoot it over, not pick it up."

"Hm."

"That's not what I meant, though…"

"I do not understand."

She just gives me a sleepy smile. "I'll tell you later, when I'm not tired. I want to see the look in your eyes when I say it."

We do not speak again for the rest of the trip.

I tuck her into bed just as I have done before, though this night I return to the living room to unroll my own futon instead of staying with her as I have other times like this.

_It is not possible that she is in love with me._

I fall asleep thinking I do not love her, either. Love is too simple a word for what I feel for her. I feel much, much more than that.


End file.
